The screen’s soaked with beer, the whole place shakes when the tubes run, the sound system’s crap…but, we love it! – Mark Moore
Scala!!! Or, the Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World’s Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits is perhaps one of the greatest film titles I have ever seen. Ali Catterall and Jane Giles’ documentary, based on the 2018 book Scala Cinema 1978-1993, is quite easily one of the best movies about movies because of how little it is about the movies themselves.
Movies have an eternal nature in the cultural consciousness, the stories and characters and visuals can and will outlast generations. But a perfectly imperfect cinema, a film palace beckoning the weary, weird, rejected, and lonely people to it, no matter how much it stinks, is a thing of fleeting beauty.
Scala!!! has a truly eclectic group of 50 interviews all from audience members of the Scala cinema’s fifteen-year existence, ranging from established filmmakers like John Waters, Mary Harron, and Ben Wheatley, to dozens of local British artists, all keeping the memory of this unique place alive.
Its quality goes far beyond references for the cinephiles in the audience and touches upon why the Scala cinema meant so much for so many. Political unrest and a total rejection of whole cultures of British people meant that places like the Scala became shelters and homes for those told to get out and never come back.
The cinema’s history is incredible, mostly unbelievable, and its poignancy isn’t lost even in the more straightforward direction. Each of the people interviewed have something special connecting them to this place, memories that range from the good, the bad, and the ugly. The sound was shit, underground trains made the whole building shake, sitting in the seats made concrete feel comfortable, the floors were caked in decades of excrement and fluids, and… it was glorious. It was home.
Scala!!! is a wonderful, passionate, entertaining, and inspiring look at how brick and mortar can change so many lives, telling those who feel different that they are welcome.
Scala!!! screened as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival and is next screening at the Sydney Underground Film Festival on Sunday 15th September at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown.Â
Tickets are on sale HERE:Â
https://newtown.dendy.com.au/movie/suff—scala
